Intravacc (Bilthoven, Netherlands) partners with Wageningen Bioveterinary Research (Lelystad, Netherlands) and Utrecht University (Netherlands) to develop an intranasal COVID-19 vaccine

AstraZeneca (Cambridge, UK) signs agreements with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi the Vaccine Alliance and the Serum Institute of India (SII) with a goal to broaden global access to an experimental COVID-19 vaccine being developed at the University of Oxford (UK)

INOVIO (PA, USA) and the International Vaccine Institute partner with Seoul National University Hospital (South Korea) to initiate a Phase I/II clinical trial of INOVIO’s COVID-19 DNA vaccine (INO-4800) in South Korea

Memo Therapeutics AG (Zurich, Switzerland) identifies potent SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies from convalescent plasma, with the potential for development as a COVID-19 immunotherapy

South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety approves the use of Gilead’s (CA, USA) remdesivir to treat COVID-19

WHO resumes study of hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19 after safety review

3 June 2020

Intravac (Bilthoven, Netherlands) and EpiVax (RI, USA) collaborate to further progress a novel vaccine against COVID-19

Chimeron Bio (PA, USA) partners with George Mason University’s National Center for Biodefense and Infectious Diseases (VA, USA) to develop a COVID-19 vaccine using ChaESARTM technology

AstraZeneca (Cambridge, UK), the company developing a vaccine in partnership with the University of Oxford (UK) says it may consider exposing trial participants to virus as the disease declines in Europe

Montefiore Health System and Albert Einstein College of Medicine (both NY, USA) begin the next stage of the Adaptive COVID-19 Treatment Trial (ACTT), testing remdesivir in combination with baricitinib or placebo

Merck & Co. (NJ, USA) CEO Ken Frazier casts doubt on the 12–18-month timeframe to develop an effective vaccine against COVID-19, following the launch of the US government’s “Operation Warp Speed”

AstraZeneca (Cambridge, UK) to receive up to $1.2 billion from the US Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) for the development, production and delivery of at least 300 million doses of the University of Oxford’s (UK) COVID-19 vaccine

Brazil authorizes the use of hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19, with revised guidelines suggesting dosage along with the antibiotic azithromycin at the first onset of symptoms. Patients or family members will have to sign a waiver recognizing the potential side effects caused by the drug

Airway Therapeutics (GA, USA) and Celonic Group (Basel, Switzerland) collaborate to produce AT-100 as a therapeutic candidate for COVID-19

Relief Therapeutics (Geneva, Switzerland) announces New York University Langone Health’s (USA) participation in the Phase II clinical study of Aviptadil for the treatment of Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) in COVID-19

Tetra Bio-Pharma (Ontario, Canada) announces plans to launch a Phase 1 trial of drug candidate PPP003 in healthy volunteers later this year and subsequent initiation of a Phase II trial in patients with COVID-19 immediately after

BioSig Subsidiary ViralClear (CT, USA) submits Investigational New Drug Application to the FDA for Phase II Cclinical trials for Merimepodib as a treatment for COVID-19

FDA grants approval for Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health (NY, USA) to launch clinical trials to determine whether blood plasma from COVID-19 survivors can be used to prevent infections in high-risk individuals

Scancell (Oxford, UK) to initiate development of novel DNA vaccine against COVID-19

SOM Biotech (Barcelona, Spain) to test three drug candidates for COVID-19 in vitro, in collaboration with the Ewha Womans University (Seoul, South Korea)

Sepsivac, a sepsis drug jointly developed by Cadilla Pharmaceuticals (Ahmedabad, India) and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR; Pretoria, South Africa), will be tested in 50 COVID-19 patients at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences

21 April 2020

Microsoft (WA, USA) launches self-screening tool “Plasma Bot” to gather plasma donations from recovered COVID-19 patients for potential antibody-based therapy, while Grifols (Barcelona, Spain) announces it has begun screening and selecting volunteer donors who have recovered from COVID-19 to donate their plasma in select US cities

Bayer (Leverkusen, Germany) partners with Population Health Research Institute (PHRI; Hamilton, Canada) on major global research study with the aim of identifying potential COVID-19 treatments. The two studies will evaluate different combination therapies including Bayer’s chloroquine and interferon beta-1b

Following the screening of 11,552 compounds, Innovation Pharmaceuticals (MA, USA) reports their drug Brilacidin to be one of the most promising potential inhibitors of COVID-19

20 April 2020

RedHill Biopharma (Tel Aviv, Israel) announces agreement with National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to evaluate its investigational drug, RHB-107, against COVID-19 in pre-clinical testing

NanoPass (Ness Ziona, Israel) is to join forces with leading vaccine and immunotherapy companies around the world to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, and is sharing its proprietary MicronJet microneedle device

Bold Therapeutics (Vancouver, Canada) and the University of Ottawa (Canada) announce initiation of Research partnership to explore the potential utility of BOLD-100 as a novel antiviral agent for the treatment of COVID-19

HALIX (Leiden, Netherlands) enters collaboration with the University of Oxford (UK) for GMP manufacturing of a COVID-19 vaccine, ChAdOx1 nCoV-19

Ansun Biopharma (CA, USA) enrolls first patient in proof of concept trial of DAS181 for the treatment of COVID-19

First patient treated with leronlimab, a potential COVID-19 therapy, in Phase IIb/III trial

Khondrion (Nijmegen, Netherlands) highlights potential role of inflammatory lipid modulator prostaglandin E2 in COVID-19 and proposes that its lead drug candidate, sonlicromanol, could be repurposed for the treatment of patients with severe COVID-19

AstraZeneca (Cambridge, UK) announces plans to investigate the potential of the BTK inhibitor Calquence (acalabrutinib) in the treatment of cytokine storm associated with COVID-19 infection in severely ill patients

Afecta Pharmaceuticals (CA, USA) to submit two of its lead COVID-19 drug candidates to the National Institute of Health (MD, USA) to be evaluated for initiation of pre-clinical and potential clinical testing

NantKwest and ImmunityBio (both CA, USA) collaborate to develop therapeutics and vaccines against COVID-19, with clinical trials anticipated to begin this quarter

Kedrion Biopharma (Lucca, Italy) announces initiation of the development of a plasma-based therapy for treating COVID-19

The Vector Institute (Kol’tsovo, Russia) announces plans to start clinical trials for coronavirus in June

Queen’s University (Belfast, UK) leading cell therapy clinical trial to help improve outcomes in COVID-19 patients

The Montreal Heart Institute (Canada) announces partnership with the NYU Grossman School of Medicine (NY, USA) for its COVID-19 clinical study evaluating colchicine for preventing major inflammatory storm

Vyripharm Biopharmaceuticals (TX, USA) announces plans to repurpose the development of a novel theranostic platform for the diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of viral infections such as COVID-19.

ImmuneMed (Korea) to test its potential COVID-19 cure, HzVSF, outside Korea, after efficacy was demonstrated in five hospitalized patients

BioDuro LLC (CA, USA) announces the initiation of a COVID-19 nanobody therapeutic program

New York state Health Department officials report plans to begin clinical trials next week for a malaria drug combination (hydroxychloroquine, Zithromax and chloroquine) that appears to hold some promise for battling COVID-19

26 March 2020

NeuroClear (CT, USA) acquires license to develop a broad-spectrum anti-viral agent that could treat COVID-19, with initial laboratory results demonstrating a high level of activity against COVID-19

Relief Therapeutics (Switzerland) and NeuroRx Inc (DE, USA) file an Investigational New Drug application with the US FDA for a phase II trial of RLF-100 (Aviptadil) in the treatment of COVID-19-induced Acute and Moderate Respiratory Distress

25 March 2020

Researchers at Duke-NUS Medical School (Singapore) plan to start testing a COVID-19 vaccine candidate later this year

Vir Biotechnology (CA, USA) to proceed with two clinical development candidates for COVID-19 after announcing that it has identified multiple human monoclonal antibody development candidates that neutralize SARS-CoV-2

UK clinical testing on an Oxford University (UK) COVID-19 vaccine candidate dubbed ChAdOx1 could begin as early as next month

20 March 2020

Roche (Basel, Switzerland) announce they have initiated a Phase III study to investigate the use of Actemra/RoActemra (tocilizumab) plus standard-of-care in hospitalised adults with severe COVID-19 pneumonia compared to placebo plus standard of care

Study results published in the New England Journal Of Medicine suggest that the addition of AbbVie’s (IL, USA) Kaletra (lopinavir/ritonavir) to standard care in seriously ill patients with confirmed COVID-19 did not significantly shorten the time to clinical improvement and also not significantly lower mortality rates, compared to standard care alone

18 March 2020

In trials conducted on 200 patients in Wuhan and Shenzhen, Fujifilm’s (Tokyo, Japan) Avigan was shown to reduce pneumonia symptoms, while subjects who received the drug tested negative for the SARS-CoV-2 virus in a shorter time

Pfizer (Zurich, Switzerland) and BioNTech (Germany) on Tuesday said they have agreed to co-develop an mRNA-based coronavirus vaccine aimed at preventing COVID-19 infection, building on a previous R&D collaboration focused on influenza

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (NY, USA) state that it hopes to enter clinical studies with a multi-antibody cocktail that can be administered as prophylaxis for COVID-19 by early summer

16 March 2020

Sanofi (Paris, France) and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (NY, USA) announce that they have initiated a clinical programme evaluating whether IL-6 inhibition with Kevzara (sarilumab) is better than current supportive care alone for patients hospitalized with severe COVID-19. A Phase II/III study wll be carried out in the USA, led by Regeneron, and will begin enrolling patients immediately

CureVac (Tübingen, Germany) said that it “rejects allegations about offers for acquisition of the company or its technology” following reports that US President Donald Trump has sought exclusive access to the German drugmaker’s work on an mRNA-based vaccine against COVID-19

10 March 2020

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (WA, USA) state that it has launched a $125-million seed fund, along with partners Wellcome (London, UK) and Mastercard (NY, USA), to help find potential treatments for COVID-19.

Arcturus Therapeutics (CA, USA) announces it’s collaboration with Duke-NUS Medical School (Singapore) to develop a COVID-19 vaccine based on the company’s STARR Technology, which could produce a vaccine response at much lower doses than traditional mRNA vaccines

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (MA, USA) and Vir Biotechnology (CA, USA) announces their plan to expand their existing collaboration to include the development and commercialisation of RNAi therapeutics targeting SARS-CoV-2